Download Activision Hits Remixed [GOOGLE DRIVE]

Just a few years ago Activision paid homage to its history by creating Activision Anthology, a PlayStation 2 collection of the Atari 2600 games that built the company back in the 1980s. It was one of the most impressive retrogaming productions created at the time because of the respect it paid to the company's games and their history...as well as the impact they had on the videogame market back when they were released. And to get that same effort in a handheld...well, that's even better. The quick-shot, instant gratification nature of old-school games fit extremely well in the pick-up-and-play portable environment, and Activision Hits Remixed takes everything that was awesome in the PlayStation 2 presentation and mini-sizes it for PSP play.

So for a very attractive budget price, in Activision Hits Remixed you get perfect emulation of more than 40 games from the Atari 2600 system. The line-up? Deep breath: Atlantis, Barnstorming, Beamrider, Boxing, Bridge, Checkers, Chopper Command, Cosmic Commuter, Crackpots, Decathlon, Demon Attack, Dolphin, Dragster, Enduro, Fishing Derby, Freeway, Frostbite, Grand Prix, H.E.R.O, Ice Hockey, Kabobber, Kaboom, Keystone Kapers, Laser Blast, Moonsweeper, Megamania, Oink, Pitfall, Pitfall II, Plaque Attack, Pressure Cooker, Private Eye, River Raid, River Raid 2, Robot tank, Sea Quest, Skiing, Sky Jinks, Space Shuttle, Spider Fighter, Stampede, Star Master, Tennis, and Thwocker.

At this point in technological advancements, a calculator you can buy at Walgreens probably has enough horsepower to run Atari 2600 code. So to have that ability on the PSP isn't really all that amazing -- after all, the system already has compilations that feature emulations of arcade and Sega Genesis games, not to mention all those gray area "home brew" programs floating around the Internet that Sony doesn't really want you to find.

It's all in how the games are presented that really makes the Activision Hits Remixed such an impressive package. Ultimately it's just a portable rendition of the compilation Barking Lizard created under Activision's watch, but this time it's been handled by Backbone's Digital Eclipse emulation team. And while Digital Eclipse certainly based its compilation design on the PlayStation 2 version -- right down to the extra 1980s soundtrack of A Ha and the Flock of Seagulls blaring while you play -- the package is actually just a little bit better thanks to additional features that streamlines the experience.

Take, for example, loadtimes. Nothing's a bigger drag in the handheld market than a collection of titles that makes you wait as you jump from game to game. Atari cartridges very rarely broke the 4 kilobyte barrier, so the developers take advantage of this little tidbit and pretty much load every game into the PSP's memory on the first boot. This means that when you move from cartridge to cartridge, you'll instantly zip to the next game in the rack.